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Aussies - who saw All Saints this afternoon?

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Posted 5/26/2009 8:06 AM (GMT 0)
*Another* repulsive character with IBD!! I swear those scriptwriters have it in for us. That's, what, three in six weeks?

I.
Posted 5/27/2009 1:39 AM (GMT 0)

Haha I keep meaning to watch all saints since you last mentioned it but always seem to forget!

 

Maybe you should switch to house? :P

 

What did the character do this time?

Posted 5/27/2009 3:27 AM (GMT 0)
Ha. I only watch House when I'm not having dr problems of my own (which is rarely) as the similarities between the fictional doctors and my real ones can be a little too startling :-).

This IBD patient kept mocking the other patients for complaining about pain etc... presumably because IBD pain is worse. And then he started throwing things at the other patients, just to annoy them, and calling them "wusses" etc. And then somebody shot him, and I think the underlying message was that it was no great loss :-).

How are you feeling, Phoebe?

I.
Posted 5/27/2009 4:20 AM (GMT 0)

Oh god; I’ve never watched all saints but it sounds terrible!! Maybe I can watch it for the laugh-factor one night….

 

I’m feeling OK Ivy how about you? How are the new setons going? Are they the same colour? They took one of mine out when they inserted this mushroom drain, and I was kind of sad about it because the seton was just starting to get comfortable. I still have my 2nd seton in. The new drain is very painful and uncomfortable because I have to sit on it all day long and it’s stitched into my skin, and getting up/sitting down/walking is quite painful. I have my follow up on Monday so hopefully then I can get some sort of idea of how long this thing will be poking out of my butt for.

 

I have been taking ½ doses of pain killers to get me through because I’m still struggling along and working fulltime L I am stubborn!

 

Posted 5/27/2009 4:33 AM (GMT 0)
All Saints *is* terrible! It's the hospital you never want to visit: they gossip about patients behind their backs, laugh about ailments like IBD and ostomies, divulge confidential information to visitors, perform all sorts of procedures they should NEVER do in an open ward, etc etc etc etc etc...

What can I say? I've been home sick for years and tend to crash at about 2pm, and it's the only (ha) remotely decent thing on during the afternoon.

I haven't had one of those tubey things, and am glad not to have experienced it yet. Might a doughnut cushion help?

I am feeling dreadful, to be honest. The people opposite me on the train home were reading non-local newspapers and were coughing and hacking and spluttering the whole way home, so I worry I might have caught something scary. I'll have to go out to get food eventually, but am otherwise trying to avoid people just in case I have the flu. In the mean-time, I am dragging myself around, sleepy and on pain pills, andfeeling revolting. Ho hum.

What painkiller did they give you?

I.
Posted 5/27/2009 6:41 AM (GMT 0)
Oh ivy that’s awful I know that feeling so well. They gave me ‘digesic’ for the pain – but I only have a very few so I am trying to limit their use – I wish I had an unlimited supply! Less than 20 left and that has to keep me going till Monday.   Funny that I was only offered decent pain meds when I demanded them. I don’t think these drs have the faintest idea how painful these drains/ops/setons are!   The tubs is pretty awful; my butt looks like a construction site, pretty much. Stitches and a 6cm tube poking out. owch. Can’t wait to see what they say on Monday.     We were all wishing you well and thinking of you during the surgery….. is there a lot of pain associated with replacing a seton in an existing tunnel?   I think the 2 nd seton I had which was in there might have been a ‘cutting’ seton to open the tunnel up. Have you heard of these? I think it might have opened a flap of skin between the fistula tunnel and my anus. If that makes sense. I hope that’s what its doing anyway. I just took a look and I’m at work and I pulled it more than I usually did and it seems to have cut the space between the tunnel and the anus open so it can heal though I’m not sure it’s so cofusing!   Argh I hate having to get out to get food!! Have you thought about meals on wheels for a bit to help you through? I was lucky to have my BF to do shopping for me, I would just write a list but I did feel guilty asking him, too. You need somebody who can do that for you!
Posted 5/27/2009 6:52 AM (GMT 0)
Hi there Phoebe,

I have tried Meals on Wheels, but it made me sick - lots of processed foods, and I'm guessing they slipped in some foods I'm sensitive / allergic to, even though they had clear instructions not to - so try to stick it out by myself for as long as I can. Fortunately, I always try to keep a few weeks ahead with groceries, so the only thing I'll get desperate for (soon) is some fresh fruit & veg, and maybe some bread... which I *can* make myself if I have to...

about the pain meds, I recommend ringing up the hospital and asking for more. I've been in the system a long time, Phoebe; I've seen far too many instances of doctors discharging patients with inadequate meds, simply because they didn't bother to do the maths to calculate how many pills would be needed. If you ring them now, you may be able to get a script and fresh supplies before the weekend. Don't feel bad about hassling them - *they* should feel bad about discharging you with insufficient pain relief.

I agree with you about them being clueless about the pain.

A seton replacement can be fine or can be painful. The last one they did - the one that fell out - I was fine and felt as if they'd done nothing; the one before that I was black and blue for a week. This one is pretty sore, but manageable with Endone.

I've heard of a cutting seton but don't have one myself. I think f/c may have had one, though?

'xcuse rambling. I'm still pretty woozy.

Ivy.
Posted 5/27/2009 10:46 PM (GMT 0)
You’re not rambling at all! Your info is so useful for me. Really Ivy you so often feel like my ‘crohn’s Gandalf’! I feel pretty lost in the system a lot of the time. With my latest drain surgery they told me I would need to be on amoxicillin and flagyl but discharged me without the scrips because they couldn’t locate the dr to get it written. They told me to see a GP for the script . How ridiculous is that! I mean I could barely walk! Luckily I had script s left over to see me through.   I will try and get through to Monday with these pain meds. I am hoping it will get less and less sore as time goes on. I’m just so anxious to know how long I will have to have this tail for!   I was wondering about the quality of meals on wheels. A lady I work with does ‘ lite and easy’ and the food she gets is fabulous – very fresh and they deliver it right to your door. I don’t know if it would be too pricey; but she does lunches and breakfasts five days a week and it comes to $70 (including delivery). Obviously it would be more if you were doing dinners also, and doing it for 7 days a week, but maybe it would be a thought for those times when it was hard to get out?   I wish we lived closer; if you lived in Brisbane I would happily go out and do some crohn’s-friendly shopping for you J
Posted 5/27/2009 11:09 PM (GMT 0)
Hey, they discharged my mother (terminal cancer) from hospital on a Maundy Thursday with enough morphine to last her for approx two days, little caring that Easter was about to start and she wasn't going to be able to get a script or medication ANYWHERE until Tuesday at the earliest. She, of course, was too sick and woozy to notice - it just happened to be lucky that I had the brainwave to go through her meds as soon as she got home and realised the hospital's mistake... Heaven knows what Mum would have done if she'd lived alone, as you and I do...

I've looked into Lite and Easy, and have seriously considered ordering them. They're a great service, especially in country areas where we don't have internet shopping / supermarket delivery.

I suppose, if all else fails with the pain meds, you could just take Panadol...??

I.
Posted 5/28/2009 3:10 AM (GMT 0)
Yeah panadol or neurophen+ is always there as a last resort but they don’t really make the pain any less; its as if my body has become so used to them now they don’t do anything. I was taking them every day for weeks to try and get some relief from the pain of the abscess – excruciating pain – and didn’t think to ask for some decent pain meds. I think these should tide me over until Monday though.   I know that the lady I work with would highly recommend lite and easy. It is designed as a weight-loss system but you can choose different calorie-level plans, and it is pretty cost-effective from what I can see. Apparently you can check online all the foods you will receive and you have choices. At the moment there is a lot of winter comfort food available. Maybe just have a look online and see what you think….   That’s awful to hear about your mother; I think that with the everyday chaos of hospital so many people’s treatments get overlooked. You get caring nurses, and tough heartless ones. It’s just the luck of the draw I guess. I was lucky to have a lovely nurse when I woke up this last time, I asked her when she looked if my drain ‘looks scary’ and I was crying because I was frightened of what they’d put there and I’d woken up in so much pain, and she was so lovely. When I sat down on my side slowly in recovery she said ‘very gracious’ and whispered ‘noone ever need know why’ . It was lovely.   Then I got stuck in recovery with a nurse who wouldn’t get me a wheelchair or my meds! Oh well. Everyone was too distracted with the horrifying flood waters.
Posted 5/28/2009 3:25 AM (GMT 0)
Phoebe, honey, I looked up your pain med online, and it says it's only for mild to moderate pain. Why didn't they give you something decent, and stronger?

I am also quite concerned to hear that you are taking Neurofen. As far as I am aware, this is NOT something you should be taking with Crohn's, unless you want to trigger a monster flare.

Seriously, Phoebe, I really do think you should ring them. Pain needs to be managed, and quickly. You can run into all sorts of long-term (life-long) problems if you try to do the Aussie stoic thing and stick it out, unassisted.

Ivy.
Posted 5/28/2009 10:53 PM (GMT 0)
It’s pretty unbelievable that I was never offered anything else for the pain – since everyone who looked at my abscess said they didn’t know how I had been functioning with that infection for so long since it was so painful. Maybe it’s a requirement that you request strong pain meds before the prescribe them? It’s the only explanation I can think of. I wince when I think of the pain I was in before with the abscess, I could hardly walk and would be crying when I had to walk somewhere, and hyperventilating from the pain! All I can do I guess is ask for some stronger meds on Monday when I see the follow-up team at the hospital.   I guess its one of those things that in hind-sight, you slap yourself for. I wish I had requested stronger pain meds earlier. Especially following my seton surgery (they only gave me ibuprophen!)    
Posted 5/28/2009 10:56 PM (GMT 0)
... but Phoebe, you shouldn't even be *taking* ibuprophen. I'm sure of it. Someone, back me up here. I'm right, aren't I?

And no, you don't need to ask for them, Phoebe. They should have given to you in the first place. You can't ask for something when you don't know it exists...
Posted 5/28/2009 11:33 PM (GMT 0)
ps. I meant to tell you, Phoebe: there was a *red back* crawling across my toilet floor when I got up this morning :-O. Good thing I saw and squashed it, wasn't it? I'd hate to have to explain *that* to the emergency dept staff...
Posted 5/29/2009 12:17 AM (GMT 0)
Oh my god! Those things are killers! I’ve heard so many people being bitten and poisoned so quickly by them. Lucky you found it! do you think there might be more around? Keep your eyes peeled!   I am thinking of buying a kitten this weekend; I’ve just been approved at my flat. Now I’m just umming and ahhing about it – it’s a big commitment. I know I could take it home with me if I drove down to see my parents, and my friends/bf could care for it if I went home by train/plane. I would love a little companion. It’s just a big decision and I’m a very indecisive person!   I think the problem is that a lot of drs don’t know all that much about the ‘ins and outs’ of crohn’s – I’ve also heard ibuprophen shouldn’t be taken by crohn’s patients. Don’t worry, I didn’t take it (because it never relieved the pain) – but I had been taking neurophen a lot – maybe the antibiotics stopped the flare? Though I am probably in a flare at the moment anyway, I think my tummy might just be a bit distracted by my bottom problems at the moment, if you know what I mean.   I wish I had asked for better pain meds. But I also wish I had better doctors to suggest them!  
Posted 5/29/2009 12:53 AM (GMT 0)
LOL, yes, it startled me, too. They're meant to live OUTSIDE, and not casually walk across the bathroom floor as if they owned the house...

I am *not* a fan of spiders. We have ridiculous numbers of white tails here, too. They even get into my sheets and shirts from time to time *ugh*, so I always have to check my bed before I go to sleep, and my clothes before I get dressed. It's quite scary, really, as a white tail bite would probably be lethal to someone on immunosuppressants.

Would you be better off getting an older cat from the RSPCA? An older cat would be housetrained and might do less damage to your rented house, and cause you less headaches while you're ill.

I.
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